Measuring antibody levels in bulk-tank milk as an epidemiological tool to search for the status of Coxiella burnetii in dairy sheep

• Published in: Epidemiology and infection Vol. 139; no. 10; pp. 1631 - 1636
• Main Authors: RUIZ-FONS, F., ASTOBIZA, I., BARANDIKA, J. F., JUSTE, R. A., HURTADO, A., GARCÍA-PÉREZ, A. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-10-2011
• Subjects: Age groups; Animals; Antibodies; Antibodies, Bacterial - analysis; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Brucellosis and other zoonoses; Costs; Coxiella burnetii; Coxiella burnetii - immunology; Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Microbiology; Milk; Milk - immunology; Miscellaneous; Pathogens; Q fever; Q Fever - diagnosis; Q Fever - immunology; Q Fever - microbiology; Q Fever - veterinary; Regression analysis; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Serology; Sheep; Sheep Diseases - diagnosis; Sheep Diseases - epidemiology; Sheep Diseases - immunology; Sheep Diseases - microbiology; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary Medicine - methods; Netherlands; zoonoses; Q fever; Coxiella; ELISA; Farming animal; Antibody; Epidemiology; Rickettsiales; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Bacteria; Sheep; Artiodactyla; Rickettsieae; Veterinary; Coxiella burnetii; Rickettsiaceae; Ungulata; Milk
• ISSN: 0950-2688; 1469-4409
• DOI: 10.1017/S0950268810003134

Pooling samples may provide a valuable alternative to individual testing for pathogen surveillance purposes. We studied the reliability of measuring the level of antibodies against Coxiella burnetii in bulk-tank milk (BTM) to estimate the seroprevalence of C. burnetii in dairy sheep in 34 flocks. We then estimated the seroprevalence of C. burnetii in 154 dairy sheep flocks according to the level of antibodies in BTM. We tested for the accuracy of our estimation at the population level by comparing predicted mean C. burnetii flock seroprevalence with that obtained in another survey performed on the same population. Our findings showed that testing BTM by ELISA is a cost-effective and relatively good index of the seroprevalence of C. burnetii in dairy sheep and may be a useful tool for epidemiological surveillance at the population level.